Who Will Fall First?
by Let'sAllBeGinger
Summary: 'How about this. Let's make a bet. Whoever falls in love first has to be the lower spouse in the marriage.' He thought about for a second before nodding and taking my hand. 'Deal.' When Max and Fang are set up with marriage they make a deal. Whoever falls in love first loses. But what happens when they both slowly start having feelings for each other? FAX
1. Dinner Party and Dracula

**Disclaimer (of magic)**

**Iggy: You own practically nothing in this chapter.**

**Me: Not true! I own the plot.**

**Iggy: Yeah but you don't own James Patterson, Sherlock Holmes, Jo Nesbø, Anne MacCaffery, Rick Riordan, Mary Shelley, The Count of Monte Cristo, Dracula, or any other books or authors mentioned in this chapter.**

**Me: If I don't own you then how did I get you here?**

**Iggy: Kidnapping my dear Watson, kidnapping.**

**Me: …**

**Iggy: Enjoy this chapter and call the police. I need help.**

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Max POV

'…And now, my dear Watson, we have had some weeks of severe work, and for one evening, I think, we may return our thoughts into more pleasant channels. I have a box for 'Les Huguenots.' Have you heard the De Reszkes? Might I trouble you then to be ready in half an hour, and we can stop at Marcini's for a little dinner on the way?'

I sighed audibly after rereading Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles for the umpteenth time. Closing my eyes I took another deep breathe in and slowly let it go before reopening my eyes. Setting the already torn, bent, and dog tagged to death book gently on the ground I picked up The Valley of Fear and proceeded to open up that book.

Oh right…manners. This world would be better off without them, couldn't we just walk around with name tags saying 'Hello! My name is:' and you could fill in Slim Shady in your best graffiti handwriting? But since the world's greatest scientists haven't announced that this would be best for the community yet, I'll just have to stick to plan A.

My name is Maximum Martinez. I'm a seventeen year old girl just about to graduate high school and go into the field of neurosurgery, which is a brain and spine doctor. The main reason for that is the fact that I really want to poke someone's brain. Anyways, I'm a book-aholic. Anne MacCaffery, Rick Riorden, Jo Nesbø, Mary Shelley, Arthur Conan Doyle, Andrew Dumas. You name it, I've probably read it. Oh right, best keep to the script and not delve any deeper into my book life. I have long, layered blonde slash brown hair, tan skin, some freckles on my face, and brown eyes. I'm also very tall. As in, I tower over most people my age and some older than me.

We -meaning me, my mom, my dad, and my little sister- live in Great Falls, Montana and all that good stuff. My dad is Jeb Batchleder, a 46 year old man with sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, and a pale complexion from being inside a lot. My mother, Valencia Martinez, is 44 and has wavy chocolate brown hair and eyes along with tan skin and a Spanish background. My little sister is fifteen. Her name is Ella and she looks like a spitting image of my mom, except younger and with one of her eyes a blue color like my dads.

My dad works for some science company called Ride&Gunther-Hagen. You'd have to be living under a rock not to know about them. They created the first locked up room to ever reach 0 Kelvin and even proved that all molecular motion froze. Yeah, it's awesome.

One thing about my school life, I've never actually gone to school in the Great Falls Public School area -not counting elementary-. I actually went to a prep school called Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota. I'm on my certain level of genius thanks to that school. We won first in the country Science Bowl and Science Olympiad. Along with competing with my original state of Montana's Math Counts team. Even though we lost to them, it was fun.

Right, present moment of books reading. It was a Wednesday, if you went to a public school, still part of the school year, I had gotten out a week ago and had come home six days ago. Yay, give me a golden star for explaining something absolutely worthless to you!

I knew that I would have to get ready soon, put on the retched dress, brush my hair, floss my teeth, trim my nails and put on a pair of suitable shoes. It ended up that tonight we -mainly my dad- had a dinner meeting with one of the co-owners of Ride&Gunther-Hagen. I believe it was the Ride portion, but what do I know?

It took forever for my mom and dad to 'convince' me to wear that dress. I absolutely hate dresses, they restrict my space. Also when I was in kindergarten I was wearing a dress and going across the monkey bars. Apparently some little ass-hat boy saw my underwear and reported to the entire playground about my 'pink poopy undies', they were _not_ poopy.

Yes, all because of some little incident in kindergarten, I now had an irrational fear of dresses. And blenders, but that's a story for some other time.

I finally pulled myself up and trudged over to my dresser where the death contraption of visible undergarments awaited me. I dragged my feet since my room was right over the kitchen and I wanted to make my parents know how much I suffer having to wear this.

It was a -kill me now- floral dress. It had a mixture of pink, purple, and blue flowers on a white background. The 'belt' part of it was about three or four ribs up and very tight. After the brown leather belt was a bunch of ruffles that finally ended about an inch above my knees. The worst part? It was strapless. Me being the nearly flat breasted girl I am, I had a very hard time trying to get this dress to stay up, even with the belt as tight as it could go.

Giving up after a while I hoisted the dress up and marched off to my bathroom of wonders. While some girl's bathrooms may look like a total disaster, mine is the polar opposite. I may or may not have a slight case of OCD as well. My mouthwash, toothpaste, toothbrush, and floss were all sitting up on the wall in a little corner. Soap was in a Snoopy soap dish, and towels were hung up. My hairbrush and hair ties were set neatly in a drawer and some washcloths were set next to them.

Reaching into my magical drawer of hairbrushes, I grabbed the paddle brush -the only brush I owned- and began brushing out my hair. My hair is multilayered and the way I had it cut gave it an almost feathery feeling, it rarely ever strings up like it used to do before I got it cut this was. I hastily washed my face and began to tend to my dental needs. Brush, floss and rinse. I had braces that I also had to clean, yeah, braces. They aren't big chunky contraptions that cause me to have my mouth open at all times. They were small turquoise metal links that only made my lips bulge out slightly.

Running out of the bathroom of wonders, I grabbed a random pair of socks and yanked them on my feet. Then I put on my shoes -as most people do-. These weren't just any shoes though, these were my shoes. They were old and brown and slightly dusty. They weren't exactly hiking boots but they also weren't combat boots. They didn't really have a heel, maybe a centimeter, and were very comfortable. I had been through everything with these babies.

I flung myself out my door and started clomping down the hall. That's my favorite part about these boots, I can make them go clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp really loudly. And it drives my parents bonkers, which makes it ten thousand times better. As I made my slow journey down the hall I couldn't help but vainly check my reflection in the full length mirror that hung on Ella's open door. Even though I would never say it out loud, I actually didn't look half that bad, still, you didn't hear it from me.

I continued to clomp around. I clomped heavily down the stairs than clomped along the hall to the kitchen, before flinging myself dramatically into my seat at the table.

"Kill me now!" I sighed dramatically, swishing my head back in my chair. My parents rolled their eyes and Ella squealed with delight.

"Oh Max! You look so cute! You should really wear dresses more often!"

"I'm only wearing this because I have discovered spandex shorts can go under dresses since kindergarten."

Ella joined my parents in the act of eye rolling this time.

"Let's just go, okay? Maybe they will have good food and free apple juice." I said with fake enthusiasm.

"Alright, bring something to entertain yourself during dinner. It's probably just going to be a bunch of grown up stuff." My mom said, shooing Ella and I up to grab whatever we needed from our rooms.

Ella looked really pretty. She had a strapless baby blue dress that tightened up around the same place mine required a belt. Underneath it was very poofy and went down to her knees. She had her hair curled and then pulled back into a high pony tail held by a big pink bow. On her feet she had the treacherous contraption called 'high heels'. I shudder at the thought if wearing those.

I reached my room and immediately grabbed Dracula by Bram Stoker. I know what you're thinking -or maybe you aren't, I don't know, I'm not a mind reader- 'why aren't you reading that Valley of Fear book?' Well, my dear Watson, I'm not reading it because when my parents say 'grown up stuff' it usually concerns chatting about Ella and I or talking about new breakthroughs in science, and since I am practically a grown up, I deserve to eavesdrop while I read. To tell the truth, I never really got that into Dracula, so I could easily act like I was reading and really just listen in on whatever they are saying.

When I walked out of my room, Ella was there with her phone clutched tightly in her hands, her eyes glued on the screen as her thumbs flew around rapidly. I rolled my eyes and gave her a donozo in the back of the head. She flew forward before regaining her balance -even though I didn't even hit her that hard- and turning around to glare at me.

"Come on text-aholic, we need to go now." I stated as I began to clomp down the stairs.

"Can you not clomp? It's really annoying and loud." Ella asked as she followed behind me, her heels clicking down the stairs like a teacher coming down the hallway.

"Can you not click? It sounds like someone is clicking a pen." I answered, imitating her voice. Our voices were a lot alike, mine was just a tiny bit deeper, not like my voice sounded like a man's, more like if you matched our voices with notes on the piano, hers would be like a note or two above mine.

We continued the playful bickering all the way down the stair before we reached the front door where our parents were waiting.

Mom had on a dark purple velvet dress that had sleeves down to her elbows and the skirt went down to the end of her knees. She had on black heels and her hair was straightened. She also had an emerald jewel swinging around on her necklace.

Dad had on a white work shirt and a blue tie, he also had on khaki business pants and some brown leather business shoes. His hair was greased back and he had his glasses perched on his nose.

"Dad, it looks like you're going to work. Not a dinner party." I remarked as I looked over what he was wearing.

He stuck his tongue out at me before opening the door for everyone and heading out to the car.

The car ride was uneventful, just the usually bicker between Ella and I on which station to go to -we had XM radio-. She was all for Hits 1, while I wanted either Alt Nation or Lithium. Just to clear up any confusion some of you dumbasses might have, yes, I mean the radio station, not Lithium the element with an atomic number of three and 5.941 being its atomic mass.

After a very long car drive of thirty minutes -these people lived all the way across town and then really deep into the country- we finally, finally, made it.

Let me tell you, their house was huge. It had to be three stories tall, and that just above the ground, they probably had a basement too. It was made of red bricks and the entrance was at least four me's high and about three meters thick. There were two room length windows on either side of the entrance and you could see a sparkling chandelier hanging from looking through the semicircle window that was perched on top of the door. This house was absolutely outstanding.

While I stood there gaping at the amazing architecture that was put into making this house, my parents and Ella had already gone up to the door and knocked politely. I quickly ran forward to where they were standing and smoothed my dress and hair as I tried to look like I wasn't just sitting around like a little kid at a candy shoppe and instead was standing up here with my family, the picture of sophisticated grace.

The door was answered shortly after by a woman with curly blonde hair that went down to her waist, pale skin, black eyes and a very short stature. She had on a green sundress and brown heeled boots that went up to her knees.

"Oh hello! I'm Amelia Ride! It's great to meet you all." She said politely. This lady seemed only about thirty.

"It's great to see you again Amelia! This is my family. My wife Valencia, and my two daughters: Eleanor, or Ella, and Maximum, or Max." Dad said, gestured to each of us in turn.

"Well, it's great to meet all of you! If you follow me, I'll lead you to the dining room, dinner is almost ready." Amelia said as she started to trot off to wherever the dining room might be. We followed behind her as she led the way to the kitchen. We passed through two other rooms that seemed to span for miles and were decked with the finest furniture you could get.

Once we finally reached the dining room I was once again amazed. It was decked with all sorts of rocks as the walls, a sleek black table along with sleek black chairs, an angelic white floor. There was also a TV and two long windows that looked out upon a small garden and further on to the river. There was a swinging door, that most likely led to the kitchen, off on the right hand wall.

Sitting at the front of the table, looking at a Cigar Monthly magazine was a man I presumed was my dad's boss. He had dark black hair, brilliant blue eyes, and olive skin. He was wearing a grey jacket over a white work shirt, along with grey work pants and black leather work shoes. He looked like he was going to work as well.

It was then that I began to turtle up. I usually wasn't a very shy girl, just around people I wasn't comfortable with or didn't know. I didn't know these people at all.

"Oh you're here!" The man said, looking up from his magazine at us. His voice seemed almost to have some sort of accent, I'm not entirely sure what kind though. "I am Doctor Marcel Ride. It's great to meet you all."

Doctor Marcel Ride then proceeded to stand up and shake all of our hands.

"Marcel, this is my wife Valencia and these are my daughters Maximum, or just Max, and Eleanor, or Ella." Dad said. I put on my best fake smile, which didn't include my teeth and didn't reach my eyes.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all!" Doctor Ride exclaimed, a genuine smile on his face.

"It's great to meet you too Doctor Ride." Ella answered back politely.

"Please, call me Marcel. My children will be out shortly, so feel free to make yourself comfortable." Doctor Ride -no wait, Marcel- said kindly before glancing at Amelia right before she scurried off to get their children.

I glanced at my parents before seating myself in one of the sleek black chairs. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable, unlike our chairs which had a woven bottom and a plush back, and I assumed that this family preferred to live in the high class world, and not the comfortable world.

After a few moments my dad and Doctor Marcel started up a conversation about the field of genetic mutations or something. Even though I would like to pay attention I was too entranced in this whole house. The furniture was not my favorite and was somewhat scarce from what I saw earlier but the whole building of the house must have taken nearly forever.

I felt something nudge my knee and looked next to me. Ella gave me a sharp look before acting out taking out a book and reading it. Was I staring or something? I smirked at her before I lifted up my book from my side and began to read it.

"3 May. Bistritz.-Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived late and would start as near the correct time as possible."

Soon I was just as entranced in it as I was when I first read it. Even though it was not my all time favorite, not even in the top ten, I still had to appreciate the amazing literature in it. I was snapped out of my trance by the sound of a pot being knocked over, then followed by loud laughing and talking. Then the swinging door from the kitchen swung open revealing Amelia and two kids.

The first out was a girl. She had mocha brown skin and silky brown hair that had a single white streak in it. Her eyes were a perky brown color and she had on a lacy light pink dress that went down to her elbows and ended at her knees. She also had on some lacy white flats and lacy white tights. I'm just going to take a guess and say that she likes lace. She seemed about Ella's age, around fifteen.

Following her was a boy. He had olive skin and seemed muscular. He had shaggy black hair that hung loosely over his eyes which were a dark black. He was about two to four inches taller than me. He was wearing a black long sleeved shirt that hugged his arms and some loose fit jeans that were held up by a black leather belt. He also had on black trainers. I had to admit, this dude was pretty darn handsome. He looked like the type who wouldn't listen to what their parents said. He looked to be around my age, maybe a year older.

Now, I'm not going to go into some big swoon fest of 'and time stopped completely when he walked in. He was my whole universe. He was drool worthy hot. He looked like the kind of guy who would easily break a girl's heart' or any of that crap. Sure he was handsome, but what really intrigued me about him was the fact that he looked somewhat like Edmond Dantés from The Count of Monte Cristo.

Doctor Ride cleared his throat before standing up and standing besides his children.

"This is my daughter, Monique, and my son, Nicholas." He said, slightly gesturing to the kids. Monique waved at us and smiled excitedly and Nicholas nodded his head, no emotion on his face.

"I'm Jeb Batchleder and this is my wife Valencia Martinez. These are my daughters Maximum and Eleanor Martinez." My dad introduced us to the two kids.

"You can just call me Ella and call her Max." Ella voiced out quickly after dad finished his introductions.

A ding went off from the kitchen and Amelia quickly perked up. "Monique, can you help me with the food, Nick you can just sit down."

They both nodded and Nicholas sat down while Monique pranced after her mother into the kitchen.

I glanced at Nicholas for a moment before turning my attention back to my book that was resting in my lap. I knew Ella would eventually start up a conversation with him so I wouldn't have to do anything but nod a few times and act like I knew what was going on.

Before Ella could strike up a conversation, Monique and Amelia were back carrying platters of food. There was turkey, macaroni, noodles, salad, soup and some sort of vegetables in a bowl. I looked greedily at all the food. I had a very fast metabolism and had to eat a lot of calories a day. Amelia came around and poured some water into our glasses before letting us dig in. My mouth was already watering as I caught a whiff of the food.

So as not to bore you with the dinner process, I'll just say that I tried everything. And I had seconds of everything. Of course, I also didn't speak at all. I simply nudged Ella and glanced at the food I wanted, and then she'd ask politely for it before handing it to me. That's what an awesome sister looks like.

Sadly there was no dessert after dinner -sob, cry- and so the grown ups started off into an animated whispering conversation, glancing at either Nicholas or me every once and a while. Ella and Monique, who called herself Nudge for some reason, got into their own animated conversation about fashion, celebrities and the new season of The Walking Dead. Of course, it was just Nicholas and I left sitting there quietly. He would glance up at me every once and a while but would quickly look back down at his phone. I simply did the only thing natural for a Max, I read my book.

Soon after that the table was cleared and everyone got back into their conversation, the adults were more hushed than before and I couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay, mom. Stop with the hushed conversation. I've finished my book and I want to know what you're talking about." I said impatiently. I then, of course, looked back on what I just said and my eyes widened as I covered my mouth. "Sorry, that was rude."

"Oh, Max, don't worry about it. There actually is something we need to tell you." My mom said before glancing at my dad. My parents then exchanged looks with the Rides.

"You are going to get married to Nicholas."

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**Wow. That was craptastic! But I like it! I guess. Next point of view will be Fang's, it'll just be his point of view on what happened. Yeah. Okay if I don't update this for a while it's probably school's fault. Freaking school, always ruining my fun. Let's see if anyone knows this song! I absolutely love it!**

**I'm a phoenix in the water  
A fish that's learnt to fly  
And I've always been a daughter  
But feathers are meant for the sky.**

**So I'm wishing, wishing further  
For the excitement to arrive  
It's just I'd rather be causing the chaos  
Than laying at the sharp end of this knife.**

**With every small disaster  
I'll let the waters still  
Take me away to someplace real.**

**It's one if my all time favorite songs by one of my all time favorite singers! Read, review, and all that good stuff!**


	2. Centipede and Murder

** Oh hai there! I cannot believe people actually like this! I'm updating now, by the way. All of your suggestions were great! Some people said I put a lot of detail in this, and if can't agree more. I either put too much detail or not enough. There is no in between. Sowwy! Also, I need another book to read. I just reread the Divergent series -and still sobbed my heart out- and I need to read somethIng!**

**Disclaimer Of, Like, Magic **

**Iggy: I can't believe I'm a character in this chapter. **

**Me: Well duh! You're a very important character! **

**Iggy: I am!**

** Me: Yeah, who else would I have die in future chapters to create conflict and heart throb? **

**Iggy: … **

**Me: Just do the disclaimer. **

**Iggy: Fine, Ginger does not own Maximum Ride or Centipede. And why haven't any of you called the police yet?**

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Fang POV 

"FANG! IF YOU TOOK MY OTHER SHOE I SWEAR I WILL STAB YOUR EYE OUT WITH A TOOTHPICK!" My sister's voice rang across the hall and into my room. The mocha skinned girl stormed angrily into my room, half of her hair was straightened while the other was its usual frizzy mess.

"Nudge, why would I want your shoe?" I asked, swiveling around on the office chair that I sat at as I hurriedly tried to finish -no, start- a school paper. Yes, even though there was only about a week left in school, our grammar teacher still expected us to write a multi paragraphed essay on the eight parts of speech.

"To make me look bad when the Batchleders get here. You probably want me to look like a fool in front of their kids. I mean, these shoes," she held up the one shoe she had in her hand "are the only thing that goes with this dress. And this dress goes with my hair when it's straightened. And if I don't have the other shoe my outfit will be completely ruined. And then you'll swoop in like some sort of Batman imitator and just be all cool while I look like a total mess! Now, where's my other shoe?" She exclaimed, exasperated and in a slightly whiney voice.

"You caught me Nudge! I have absolutely no idea where it is." I said before swiveling around to face the computer again.

She huffed before stomping off and yelling for our mom. Nudge was my adopted sister, she was an orphan from Haiti before my mom and dad adopted her. I was their actual child, I had inherited my moms black eyes and my dad's black hair and ivory skin. Other than that I was your average eighteen year old, going of to college in some other state to get as far away from my parents as possible, an overly attached ex girl friend from sophomore year, and practically no plans other than to go get drunk and party with my friends.

Running my hands through my hair I stared angrily at the computer screen in front of me. It was blank other than the words: The Eight Parts Of Speech And How They Have Helped Me By: Nicholas Ride. Other than that, it was a clean white electronic sheet of paper.

Taking in a deep breath and slowly letting it out I turned around and stared around my room. Over all it was black. The curtains: black. The walls: black. The bed: black. The desk I was sitting at: black. Etcetera, etcetera. Even my closet matched my room, well my over all closet. There were always those things I called 'random shirts from unknowing aunts' which I kept stuffed in the very back of one of my drawers.

I turned quickly back to my computer, with the off chance that perhaps a grammar ghost had flown into my room and typed my paper for me. To my greatest disappointment, the grammar ghost had not decided to bless me with its presence. Add dramatic sob in here. Truth be told, grammar barely helped me at all. Nouns? Pssh, it's not like on our resume we're going to be asked 'pick out the nouns in the following sentence'. Pronouns? Short nouns. Adjectives? Ooh, scary describers. Conjunctions? Well, but versus butt, which do you think I'd rather use? Interjections? We didn't even need them. Prepositions? Above, below, next to. Adverbs? Just add -ly to the end. Verbs? I had trouble with them when they were just things like run, swim, jump. Now it's all 'AUXILIARY VERBS ARE DIFFERENT FROM LINKING VERBS BUT I'M NOT GOING TO EXPLAIN HOW SO!' You get it? The English language is really fucked up to say the least.

Let's ignore my English homework, shall we? I'll say that Nudge ate it on a murderous rampage. She was practically on one right now, anyways. You could still hear her yelling at no one in particular about her shoe. I knew my parents were plotting something, they rarely ever had people over. Much less someone that was from my dad's company, and someone who had a lower job position than he did. Not to mention, whenever I got near my parents they'd either nervously lock eyes before breaking off their hushed conversation and scurrying away. Maybe they were plotting my murder, maybe they were plotting Nudge's Sweet Sixteen, considering it was coming up in the next month and when she wasn't angry that was the only thing she would talk about. Who knows?

Shutting the lap top in frustration, I stood up quickly from my seat. I had gathered a bunch of nervous energy by just sitting there staring at the nearly blank screen for an hour. I had to do something. Just a quick little tidbit about me, I'm slightly ADD. I can't sit still for too long and often get off of my track of thought. If I didn't let out the energy that became stored up in me at least every hour, I felt like I would explode.

Quickly walking out of my room, my hands stuffed deep into the pockets of my sweatpants, I headed down the hall of the floor that Nudge and I's rooms are on and then ran down the stairs, going two at a time. My mom always told me not to do that, she was afraid I would break my head open, but I never listened to her. I knew one day I would regret it, but it wasn't today. I landed lightly on the ground floor, so as not to disturb Nudge who I knew was somewhere on this floor, and slipped on my black Nikes.

Tying them as quickly as possible, I opened the door and hopped out quicker than you could say pomegranate-pie. Glancing around, I took in the natural beauty of where we live. Sure our house is big and cost a lot of money, but the view is all that is needed. In front of the house there is a large grassy hill with a few trees dotting it. Behind the house, though, is where the real beauty is. We live on a hill, as a matter of fact, about half a mile from the river. You can see if from almost any point in the house, with the trees along side it and a huge island sitting in the middle of it.

Over on that island my friend Iggy and I built a tree fort. He insisted on calling it a fort because 'tree house sounds to babyish'. Still, just looking out you can see all the way to the Square Butte and some small ranges of mountains. You felt like you ruled it all, seeing as you could see for miles and miles on end. If a storm was moving in, we'd probably be the first to see it too.

Reminding myself I didn't come out here for the view, I began to walk towards our backyard. If you headed down the hill behind our house, you'd get to the river. The bad thing was, it was very very steep and very very slippery. Not like there was mud all over if, more like there was a lot of loose dirt and rocks that made hiking down the slope a very treacherous journey.

Reaching my destination a turned back to the house for a moment to see Nudge staring out the kitchen window at me. She had a sassy look on her face and her arms were crossed, signaling that she didn't approve of me going down there at all. Waving slightly at her and giving her my famous smirk, I turned back to the hill, placed my feet parallel to the ground and each other, and began to slide down the hill.

Both Nudge and I had done this too many times to be afraid, and she knew I'd be perfectly fine. Let me tell you, when you go down this hill, you go down this hill fast. No inertia built up, no friction, no nothing. You start at one speed and keep at that speed, which is a speed known as fast. I personally loved it, it almost felt like you could be flying, so to speak. Or maybe landing from flying.

Even though the hill was long, it only covered about 100 meters, which left me with seven hundred meters to walk. Or in my case, run.

So, I began to run to the river. I mean, it's just seven hundred meters, I wouldn't take me more ten minutes tops. Plus, I knew this terrain better than this terrain knew itself.

Soon I had reached the river. Well, actually it was more of a canal off of the river.

It snaked off in a loop before joining back where it started. In the middle of summer it was almost completely dry at some spots, but seeing as it was just the beginning, it still had a somewhat blue color to it. Give it a few months and it'll become a horrible murky green.

Iggy and I would dare each to go into it and fetch a golf ball the other threw into it. Who is this mysterious Iggy, you might ask? Iggy is my closest friend, he said I couldn't call him his best friend because 'that seems to girly'. We've been buds since sixth grade when he moved 'next door'. By that I mean he lived about two miles away. Still, we officially made a pact of being friends when he blew up some girl's books. We don't really know who she is, all we do know is she wasn't at the middle school next year, it was rumored that either she was killed or she had went off to some prestigious prep school.

Either way, Iggy and I became friends after that. Don't ask how, it just happened. After that we were as close as…something or other. I forgot how the saying goes. But that's not the point, the point is, we became tight. We went to the arcade every Saturday and had a lot of classes together. Of course, he was in more AP and honors classes than me, but I still considered myself smarter.

Enough about the Iggy talk. Let's skip back to reality, where I'm currently at the river, actually more of a canal. The current isn't too fast and the deepest it goes is to my waist, not counting the sloppy slimed mud that coats about two feet of the bottom of the canal. The sinking down of it brings the water about up to my chest. Even though I would absolutely love to take a swim -please, at least note the sarcasm- I had to keep in mind the Bathadlers or something were coming over. Did I already mention that we rarely ever have people over? Not like I don't enjoy company -you caught me! More sarcasm- but we hardly knew these people. They must be plotting my murder together.

"FANG! MOM SAYS YOU NEED TO COME UP HERE, TAKE A SHOWER, AND GET DRESSED NEATLY! ALSO, PUT ON DEODORANT AND COMB YOUR HAIR! AND CHANGE YOUR SHOES! AND PUT ON COLOGN! AND BRUSH YOUR TEETH! AND DO YOUR MAKEUP! Whoops! NEVER-MIND ABOUT THE MAKEUP COMMENT, THAT WAS MEANT FOR ME FROM ME! ALL OF THAT WAS FROM ME EXCEPT FOR MOM TELLING YOU TO COME UP HERE, TAKE A SHOWER, AND GET DRESSED NEATLY! ALSO PUT ON DEODORANT, COMB YOUR HAIR, CHAN-" Nudge yelled down at me from the top of the hill, her figure silhouetted.

"I GOT IT NUDGE! NO NEED TO RAMBLE!" I yelled up at her.

She is the definition of a motor-mouth. Leaving behind the canal I slowly made my way back across the 700 meter stretch of dirt and grasses, trying my best not to step in deer poop or have my foot slip down a gopher hole.

Nudge stood up on the top of the hill, tapping her foot impatiently as she watched me make my slow ascent back up the steep hill, using my hands to grasp onto grasses and bushes sticking out of the ground for extra support. I knew this would piss Nudge off and I'd probably get an earful of it after the guests left, but seeing her getting so annoyed so quickly was just so much fun.

Even though she's the social butterfly of the school and could make friends with the meanest drug dealer around, you did not want her to lose her temper. She turned into the hulk then, or at least as close as a sixteen year old girl could get to the hulk. Knowing from experience, it was a near perfect performance.

"Good, you're finally up here. If you pretend to slip and slide back down I sincerely hope you trip and hit your head on a rock. Then I'll leave you down there, bleeding to death and not call Doctor Farris to take care of you. And if I'm tried for homicide or murder or whatever, I'll deny it. And if you somehow came out of that alive and tried to have me arrested I would laugh at you and probably be sent to the crazy house and put in a straight jacket. Ooh, but dirty white so doesn't go with my hair. And, eww, what if their's blood on it too! Eww, eww, eww! Never mind, if you fake slip I'm calling Doctor Farris. I don't want a bloody straight jacket that clashes with my hair." Nudge said almost all in one breathe.

By the time she had finished her rant, which I wasn't following at all, we had already reached the house. Nudge still talking incessantly to herself, she headed down to the basement and I headed upstairs to my room to take a shower. I was quite dusty as it was and I knew my mom would get on me about leaving dirt prints on the rug, but truthfully, a hot shower sounded quite nice right now.

Flinging open my closet I grabbed a pair of jeans, a long sleeve shirt, socks and a belt. Like hell I was going to change my shoes! They were perfectly fine, never mind the fact that they were slowly dying.

Stepping into my bathroom, Nudge and I each had separate bathrooms, I turned on the shower as hot as it could go and stepped in, after disposing of my ex-clothes first. It was just a quick hop in hop out sort of deal, no actual… minutes tops.

Once I got out I changed into the 'formal' clothes I had laid out. I buckled the jeans with my belt and threw my shirt on over my head. If you can guess, next I put on my socks and shoes and did all of the other things you do when you get ready for a dinner party. I brushed my teeth, put on deodorant and ran my hand through my hair. Heading out of my bathroom I checked the clock, still about ten minutes until the guests were expected to arrive.

Knowing that they were my dad's guests, they would most likely be here too early or exactly on time. They needed to sucker up to the boss after all. Trudging out of my room I headed down the two flights of stairs that brought me to the basement. Nudge was leaning against the air hockey table, talking animatedly into her phone.

"Oh, hey Fang-a-rang! Just talking with Audrey, I'll be with you in a moment!" She said happily before skipping off into the theatre room.

I didn't really…like her friend Audrey. She was a very short girl, seemed more like a twelve year old than a sixteen year old. The only thing that actually set her apart from the middle schoolers was her breasts. She liked to show them off, a lot. Whenever Nudge had her over I always hid away, knowing that she would try to shove them in my face, even though she's two years younger than me.

I could almost hear Audrey's squeal at the mention of my name. I shivered before walking over to the small arcade we had. It wasn't really an arcade though, just a few games from the eighties that my dad had liked: Centipede, Galaga, Gyruss, Pacman, etcetera. I personally liked Centipede, mainly since I had no strategy for it, just shoot like a madman. Iggy absolutely adored Gyruss, because after you warp to Neptune, you warp to Uranus. He then proceeds to make inappropriate comments such as 'I love how Uranus glitters in the moonlight.' That's a basic Iggy for you.

Setting up myself before the Centipede game I put in a quarter I would retrieve after this and hit one player. In case you didn't already know, Centipede's basic purpose is that the player defends against centipedes, spiders, scorpions and fleas, completing a round after eliminating the centipede that winds down the playing field. Yes, I did do my homework on that.

I shot at random, moving my player haphazardly around the bottom of the screen, trying desperately to destroy the Centipede as it wound its way down the screen. Let's not go into elaboration on how I died, just because I like the game doesn't mean I'm good at it.

I heard a light laugh from behind me and whipped around to find Nudge leaning casually against the door frame, toying restlessly with the lace on her sleeves. That's something Nudge did when she was nervous or excited, she toyed with her clothes. Just little, subtle things that you wouldn't notice unless you're very observant. She knew that she did this and tried her best not to when people were over.

"Gosh Fang, I didn't know you could get a worse score than you did last time." She said, prancing up to me. She was the house champion with a winning score of 70,000. It was her favorite pastime, trying to beat her high scores on any of the games. And then rubbing it in my face.

"Okay Miss High-and-Mighty, why don't you give it a try." I say, bowing myself out of the way. She rolled her eyes at me before getting in front of the game.

She and I both knew that she would get much higher than I did, but we both liked a good challenge.

"Do you have a quarter? I don't just carry them around in my dress you know. If we were going out to eat or to the Batchleder's house I would have my clutch, but since it's our house that seems irrelevant and slightly vain." Nudge exclaimed, tapping her foot impatiently on the ground with her hand outstretched, waiting for the quarter she knew I would give to her. I grabbed one from my pocket, I always keep some extra change in there, and handed it over to Nudge. As soon as the quarter was in the machine she instantly launched herself into the game.

As soon as Nudge devoted herself to something, she kept at it until she either owned or achieved her goal. When she was seven she really wanted to go to England, you know how she solved that? She found a dance program that let the most talented dancers in certain divisions go to England for a highly prestigious dance competition. She almost always got what she wanted.

Nudge soared flawlessly through the game. Unlike me, she actually aimed when she could and tried hard to break down all the mushrooms in the way. I knew that she could go on playing forever, but would probably cut her average time short so as to spare my feelings. Or maybe because our mom was marching down the stairs to tell us the Batchleders were here.

"Nudge, Fang! The Batchleders are here!" Our mom cried out. See, I told you so. Nudge glanced up from the game for barely a second, but that was enough as a bit of the Centipede came down and smashed on her character.

"Yes!" I exclaimed, throwing my fists in the air.

"I still have three more lives dip-crap." Nudge said defensively.

"No!" I cried out again, sinking onto my knees dramatically.

"How about you finish the game later Nudge, you already have the high score." Mom said, tapping her toe impatiently and glancing at the stairs behind her.

"Fine, let's go! Hey Fang, do you think they have any kids our age? I mean, I know Ella. She's nice, somewhat cut off from everyone, but still nice. She only has, like, three or four friends, and one of them is Arietta. Arietta is sooo sweet! And sooo cute! She looks like she's twelve or something, not sixteen. I once overheard Ella talking with one of her friend's, I think her name is Chrissy, about her sister coming home for summer, but I could be mistaken. I was, like ten feet away and Audrey was talking really loud about some new kid. I think it was a boy, Audrey wouldn't talk about them unless they were a boy anyways." Nudge said quickly as we walked up the stairs and into the kitchen.

I knew she would go off into another rant unless she was distracted. I threw my hand out towards the island in the middle of the kitchen and turned the handle of a pot so it was sticking off of the counter, right in Nudge's way. She didn't notice the pot nor any of my movements as she continued to blabber on and on. It was slightly to see her gasp of surprise followed by a wince and a slight shriek as she bumped the pot and it went flying towards the ground. I couldn't help myself, I laughed. You should know, I'm definitely not the laughing type, and I normally wouldn't laugh at something like this. I just couldn't help it. Nudge, graceful Nudge who persisted on getting whatever she wanted without any help, seemed like this was the worst thing that could ever happen to her. And her face was priceless.

"I…I…I can't even…" Nudge stuttered out, looking surprised and somewhat scared. "Where the hell did that pot come from?!"

"Language Monique!" Our mom shrieked even though her foul language was much worse. "Let's just go in there and introduce ourselves, okay? The Batchleders are already seated."

Nudge and I glanced at each other before following mom out the swinging kitchen door, Nudge going ahead of me. No one ever said I couldn't be gentlemanly, even if it was towards my pesky little sister.

At the table my dad sat at the head and to his left, facing us, was a thin man with wispy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He had thin framed glasses perched on his nose and was wearing a white work shirt and a blue tie, at least from what I could see. Next to him I assumed sat his wife. She looked Spanish and her dark brown hair was straightened behind her back and chocolate brown eyes. She was wearing a purple dress that had sleeves down to her elbows and an emerald pennant swung on a necklace.

There was a seat between her and the next person. It was a girl who seemed to be somewhere in between my age and Nudge's age. Even though she had to be about my age she was, how do you say, underdeveloped. At least, as far as girl's physical appearances are concerned. She had blondish brown hair that hung like feathers. She had a strapless floral dress and seemed to be examining us just as I was examining them. She had a book or something perched in her lap. From my first impression, I thought she seemed like a girl who would take her parents word as law.

Next to her was a girl who looked like a spitting image of her mother, other than her one blue eyes, which I assumed she took from her father. Her hair was curled and in a high pony tail held back by a large pink bow. She had dress like her sister's except it was blue instead of floral. In her hand she held a phone with a pink case on it. She was most likely a girly girl.

I could feel Nudge bouncing up in down with excitement nest to me. She loved meeting people, whether she knew them or not.

My dad cleared his throat before standing up and walking next to us. "This is my daughter, Monique, and my son, Nicholas." He said, gesturing to us slightly. Nudge waved happily and I nodded, keeping my face void of all emotions.

"I'm Jeb Batchleder and this is my wife Valencia Martinez. These are my daughters Maximum and Eleanor Martinez." The man, Jeb, said. Maximum? What sort of name was that?

"You can just call me Ella and call her Max." The girl who looked like Valencia, Ella I guess, said quickly after her father finished speaking.

A ding went off from the kitchen and my mom quickly perked up. "Monique, can you help me with the food, Nick you can just sit down." I nodded slightly before seating myself across from Maximum- err…Max. She glanced at my slightly, her chocolate brown eyes scanning my face as if searching for some sort of emotion before she quickly looked back down at her book.

Ella started glancing at me, her lips puckered as if it was taking all of her willpower to not start spewing out words. Just as I knew that she was going to start ranting incessantly my mom and Nudge came in like some sort of superheroes with platters of food. I glanced at the two girls across from me, who I expected to be disgusted by the mass amounts of food that we were serving them.

While Ella looked like she would just take a bit to be polite, Max looked like she could eat all of this in one sitting. She seemed like a really skinny girl too. Either she never ate or she had really fast metabolism, like me.

As soon as the food was set down everyone started digging in. Something I noticed though, the Max girl never asked for someone to pass anything to her. Instead she seemed to nudge her sister and glance at the food she wanted to have seconds of and Ella would politely ask for it before giving herself a little bit and passing it to the hungry Max next to her.

After dinner there was no dessert, which we rarely had anyways. I could see the life slowly fading out of Ella's and Max's eyes at this 'sad' news.

Soon everyone was getting comfortable with each other, the Batchleders and my parents talking quietly, glancing at either Max or me every once in a while. Maybe together they planning both of our murders. Ella and Nudge were soon in a very heated conversation about fashion and television shows and such.

Seeing as I had no chance of talking to Max considering she seemed totally engrossed in her book, I pulled out my phone that was in my pocket and started playing Angry Birds. I hate Angry Birds more than I hate Centipede. Every once and a while I would glance up at Max only to see her looking at me. Considering that we were supposedly in the same age group it must have been expected for us to immediately 'get it off' so to speak. Whoever thought that was a good idea obviously doesn't know crap about teenagers.

My mom suddenly stood up and Nudge quickly bounded up as well to help clean off the table as quickly as possible so she could get back to her conversation with Ella on goat cheese, I believe.

As soon as the table had been cleared the grow ups began to whisper even more amongst themselves. I heard a few traces of words. 'Max…Nick…mar…arra…colle…' nothing that really made that much sense to me. I hated not knowing what they were talking about and was just about to burst and demand to know what they were whispering about, but Max beat me to it.

"Okay, mom. Stop with the hushed conversation. I've finished my book and I want to know what you're talking about." She said impatiently. Her eyes quickly widened and she covered her mouth with her hands. "Sorry, that was rude."

"Oh, Max, don't worry about it. There actually is something we need to tell you." Valencia said slightly worried as she glanced at Jeb. They then exchanged worried looks with my parents. Yep, they were definitely planning my murder, and perhaps Max's as well.

"You are going to get married to Nicholas."

* * *

** Yeah, that was pretty much just the first chapter except in Fang's Point Of View. Thank you for reading! I'll give you an imaginary hug. Also, any good books suggestions? Any idea what this song is? **

**If you save yourself for marriage **

**You're a bore **

**If you don't save yourself for marriage **

**You're a horr…ible person **

**If you won't have a drink **

**Then you're a prude **

**But they'll call you a drunk **

**As soon as you down the first one**

** If you can't lose the weight **

**Then you're just fat **

**But if you lose too much **

**Then you're on crack **

**You're damned if you do **

**And you're damned if you don't **

**So you might as well just do **

**Whatever you want **

**So… **

**I like this song, I think it really displays that society just doesn't let you be who you are. Yay! Enjoy, read, review, and eat a cheese pizza. Unless you can't have cheese. In that case, eat goat cheese. I like goat cheese.**


	3. Grammar and Marriage

**Cheese. Cheese. Cheese. I need something else to read now! I'm going to die! Okay, maybe not. Anyways, this is a bit of an understatement on how someone would react -in modern times- if they were forced to marry someone. Still, I put a little bit of me in Max so I think it will be okay.**

** Iggy: Can I have a friend please? **

**Me: I will steal the awesome Prussia to entertain you. **

**Iggy: NOT THAT GUY! He bothers me. **

**Me: Okay! Just because you insisted…DENMARK'S COMING AS WELL! **

**Iggy: WHAT?! **

**Me: Just say the disclaimer and sulk later. **

**Iggy: Okay. Gingey doesn't own jack crap applesauce other than the way to make my life a living hell. **

**Me: It's not as bad as the school. **

**Iggy: You're right…it's worse. Help. Me. Now!**

* * *

Max POV

"I'm sorry, what?" I said, my mouth hanging open. Did I just hear them right? Were my ears clogged with earwax so that the words didn't comprehend with my mind? They were kidding right, some cruel joke that they thought would really get everyone off on a good laugh.

"You're getting married to my son, Nicholas." Doctor Ride said smoothly, as if he had practiced this line again and again in front of a mirror. I glanced at Nicholas to see if he was part of the joke, but he looked just as shocked as me, his jaw was swinging open and his eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Ella's and Nudge's conversation stopped as well and they had turned to see what was going on.

"Umm…is this some sort of cruel joke that you're all in on? If so, 'fess up, it's not funny." I said sincerely, crossing my arms over my chest.

Even though I tried to act cool about this all-as if the thought didn't bother me, just the context- it took all my willpower to keep the urgent hysteria from my voice. I hate jokes, no matter how 'practical' they are. In Shattuck/Saint Mary's, there is a wall that lists the dead people who used to go to the school. Some poo-for-brains thought it would be funny to write my name up there in black paint. I spent a week freaking out and questioning if I was dead or still alive.

"Sorry Max," My mom interrupted my thoughts, "this is the truth."

"No." I said firmly. "Marriage is supposed to be a sacred thing, something you do with someone you love. It's not the seventeenth century anymore. Plus, I barely know this guy. For all I'm aware of, he could be a mass murderer and keep dead children in his closet." I glanced over at Nicholas, who was still gaping at his family. Even though I highly doubt this kid actually had dead bodies in his closet, I could not be forced to marry him. Hell, I barely knew his name.

"Well, Max, it's like a business proposal," my dad sat up in his seat, his hand clutching an imaginary basketball which indicated he was about to explain something. "See, when you get into whatever line of work you choose to go into, you're going to have to make some choices. Nicholas's father and I are creating a business proposal, you two are both headed into great lines of work and life and it would be good for the family if you did marry him." He said it as if that made perfect sense. I only got one thing out of it. I was nothing more than a proposal, a silly play thing for this big bad company.

"So what. I'm- we're nothing more than play things that your big bad company can toss around, making whatever bargain or preposition about us that you want. Are you kidding me?" I shrieked. Maybe I was getting a little overwhelmed, then again, maybe the moon was made of Swiss cheese.

"Maximum, calm down." My mother said sternly. I immediately shut up. When my mother uses my real name, I know that she means business.

"Nicholas…stay quiet." Doctor Ride said, as if he was trying to be helpful. Way to go Doctor! Really contributed to this conversation!

"Listen, we've already decided, it's not much of your choice. It will bind the company and help with profits, fundings, sales, whatever! It's very important to us and therefore it is important to you." My dad said sternly, his voice never loosing it's even tone. God how he infuriated me when he tried to make things seem totally reasonable and logical when really they were the stupidest things ever.

"H-how…w-what…what the hell?!" I yelled at him. "How does that make any sense at all! I hate it when you try to sound so logical, like everything you say is 'effing law. Well it's not, okay? This is literally the stupidest thing you've ever done."

"Maximum…Max…how about you and Nicholas go down into the basement and get to know each other." Amelia said, glancing at me in an exasperated way, as if this was stressing her out more than me. She then threw a pleading glance at my mother, who gave me a pinged look.

"How about n-" I started before being cut off by Nicholas sliding his chair back on the wooden floor.

"Come'on." He growled, an angry scowl on his face. I had to admit, he looked scary. Definitely not someone you wanted to meet in a dark alleyway in the middle of the night. I let out an annoyed huff before unwillingly following him, making a show out of clomping my boots and flinging my hair around. Throwing a Max-styled temper tantrum just like I always do when I get too annoyed.

It usually takes me two hours to calm down, and then about a week until I decide to stop ignoring whoever bothered me. It's going to take a good solid month for me to forgive my parents. Following Nicholas out the door, he led me down a hallway and took a sharp turn to the left before he clomped down the stairs in front of me. As soon as we had reached the bottom, Nicholas leaned up against an air hockey table they had down there and threw his head back, closing his eyes as he did so. I began to pace, as I always do if I'm stressed or nervous. And pace I did.

Their basement was huge, about the size of an average backyard, but I kept to seven paces forward and seven paces back. That was the length of my dorm I had back in Shattuck. I quickly became more and more stressed as I mulled this whole thing over in my head and grabbed a lock of my hair to stick in my mouth. It was an annoying habit I had as a kid. Luckily it was that that stuck around and not giving myself hickeys on the arm.

"It's Fang." A voice sounded from by the air hockey table. I threw a look at Nicholas but he was too entranced in his shoes to notice.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked after a moment considering I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

"My name. It's Fang." He said, grinding his teeth together impatiently, as if he couldn't believe I didn't know this fact as soon as he mentioned fangs.

"I'm ninety-eight percent sure it's Nicholas though." I said in a know-it-all tone of voice just like I always used when I knew a fact.

"Fang is a nickname." He answered, closing his eyes back up and leaning his head back.

"What sort of nickname is that?"

"It's mine."

Once again it became quiet, like when we got down here, and I began pacing again. Pacing and chewing nervously on a lock of my hair, soaking up the little strands of hair and probably making them smell like the garlic soup which Amelia had served.

"Is that a good book?" He asked.

"Hmm?"

"Is. That. A. Good. Book?" I glanced down at Dracula without really seeing it.

"Yeah, I guess. I've read better though."

"Mmm."

That's how the rest of our 'conversations' went.

Nicholas/Fang: So you went to a boarding school?

Me: Yeah, down in Minnesota

Nicholas/Fang: Cool

-Awkward Silence-

Me: You went to school here?

Nicholas/Fang: Yeah.

Me: Cool.

-Awkward Silence-

Really basic questions that gave me little to no information about my future husband. God, that makes me sound like I'm forty or something. I heard thunks and clicks coming down the stairs and twisted around to see my family and Nicholas's family looking over the two of us, Nicholas leaning relaxed against the air hockey table as I was caught in half pace, a strand of my hair suspended momentarily in my mouth. Ella and Nudge were standing at the top of the stairs, snickering and whispering to each other.

"Listen, we talked," Amelia started and I interrupted her with a rude snort. You may have talked but not with us. "and we've decided that Max should attend your school for your last day since she doesn't have to go to hers anymore." I snorted again, knowing that she was talking directly to Nicholas, acting as if I wasn't there, maybe I was making her too uncomfortable. Good.

"Yes, we think it would be wise if Max got to know some of Nicholas's friends. Maybe one day we could invite some of Max's over here." My mom said politely, even though it was obvious she was nervous by her impatient hand wringing.

"Yeah, 'cause I'm sure they'd fly all the way from Italy to meet Nicholas here. It would be they're only wish, they'd dream about it for centuries afterwards." I replied sarcastically.

"Maximum Martinez, that is not how you talk to your mother." My dad said sternly. I simply rolled my eyes. Why not act like this is a huge joke? It's easier than actually taking it seriously.

"Why don't you two go up to Nicholas's room while the grown ups talk down here?" Doctor Ride said, a look of -obviously fake- concern on his face.

"Well, I'm pretty sure we're considered 'grown ups' considering that we're being forced to get married." I mumbled under my breathe. Nicholas must have heard it considering he snorted and let out a quiet chuckle.

"Why can't you talk in the kitchen?" Nicholas suddenly piped up. He looked pointedly at his father.

"It's been invaded by both of you're younger sisters." Amelia said, a small smile gracing her face. I glared at the two said sisters that were still standing at the top of the stairs snickering.

"Fine." Nicholas said sullenly before shoving his hands in his pockets and walking back up the stairs, parting the crowd of grown ups and the two sisters. I rolled my eyes, gave an exasperated huff, and followed him, making sure to step on my sister's toes. I followed him down another hallway, up another flight of stairs, and down yet another hallway before we reached his room. I don't exactly know what our parents expected us to do, go into an intense make-out session? With a guy I barely knew? Yeah right.

His room was pitch black, black everything. Black walls, black floor, black bookshelf, black closet, black bed, black desk…must I go on?

"I can tell you have a…fetish for the color black." I said, looking around the room.

"Yeah, I guess." Nicholas said before sitting down in his -black- chair at his -black- desk in front of his laptop, which wasn't black.

"What are you doing?" I asked, walking behind him to peek over his shoulder. He had Microsoft Word opened up and was staring at the page furiously.

"Writing a paper." He said between his teeth.

"Why?"

"It's for school."

"'The Eight Parts Of Speech And How They Have Helped Me, By: Nicholas Ride'. You haven't even started?"

"Well they haven't."

"Haven't what?"

"Haven't helped me."

"Dude, I did this in seventh grade. It's simple." I say, straightening out my back and tapping my toe. "Do you have a word limit?"

"No."

"Then it's easy. Nouns are people, places, things, or ideas. You know, you're a noun, I'm a noun, this lamp is noun. Etcetera, etcetera. Verbs show action or mental actions. Think, run, burp. Whatever. Don't mention auxiliary or linking, those are just retarded. Pronouns are like baby nouns. She, he, it, they. Adjectives are the first sort of describers, they describe nouns, pronouns, or other adjectives. Adverbs are the second sort of describers. They describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Prepositions show position. Conjunctions join nouns, phrases, or clauses. Interjections aren't really needed but they add expression to the voice or writing. A comma shows mild emotion, an exclamation point shows strong emotion."

"I didn't catch any of that." Nicholas said, his mouth hanging open slightly and his face contorted in a 'what' face.

"Scoot over." I grumbled, sitting in the seat I had just kicked him out of.

"I'm pretty sure this is my essay." He grumbled but didn't kick me back out of the seat as I began his essay. After a moment of silence Nick began to speak again.

"Didn't you just give their definitions?"

"And the dead one speaks!" I said, Nick simply glared at me. He needs glaring lessons. "Yeah, but they tie into how they help you, you'll see."

He grunted and continued to read what I was typing over my shoulder.

"There!" I exclaimed after a moment more of typing, "Finished and ready for grading. I expect my A plus in the morning."

"You mean my A plus."

"Well you didn't write it did you?"

"No, but it's going on my grade."

"Whatever." I began tapping my toe impatiently. "So, what's your school like?"

"Ehh."

"Just 'ehh'? You aren't in any clubs? AP classes? Have any friends?"

"No, no, and yes."

"And those friends would be…"

"Dude named Iggy, my sister, two girls who look like twins but aren't related, and another dude name Kyle."

"Iggy?"

"Some chic named him that a while ago."

"Okie-doki." I agreed awkwardly. I personally hated being in the same room as this guy. The silence was awkward and tense enough to cut with a butter knife. I felt like if I made one wrong move he'd end up 'accidentally' snapping my head off. How that could be an accident, I'm really not sure.

"How about we go downstairs? I don't hear any talking." I said after a moment more of the stifling awkwardness.

"Sure." We clomped out of his room and down just one flight of stairs to reach the main floor where it seemed my family was just departing.

"Oh great, Max, you're here! We were just going to call you down, I hope you and Nicholas had some time to get to know each other better." Amelia said all too cheerily. Nudge and Ella set off on an infuriating amount of giggles at the last comment, making me grind my teeth and hold in all my will power so as not to punch them both in their faces.

"Not really." I mumbled under my breathe so that only I could hear it.

"Nicholas will pick you up at seven tomorrow to take you to his school." Amelia continued.

"I'm a big girl, I can take myself." I said smoothly. That was a lie, unlike some rich kids -*cough* Nicholas *cough*- I did not have a car just yet.

"Do you know where the high school is?" Doctor Ride asked, trying to find a loophole in my loophole that led him back on the original path.

"Of course, my little sister goes there. I can just take the bus with her." I said slowly, as if explaining to a kindergartener before yelling out at Ella: "Sister! I will need some bus pants!"

"O-okay then. Well, I guess you'll meet up tomorrow at the school then?" Amelia asked.

"Yeah, yeah." I muttered before walking our with my family.

"Great meeting you all!" Doctor Ride called out after us.

"See you tomorrow at school Maxie!" Nudge sang out. I had to hold my hand down on my leg so I wouldn't end up flipping her the bird.

Oh well!

* * *

** Hmm…could have been a lot better. OH FNICKING WELL! Anyways…I sort of based the manner of Max taking this whole thing off of me. I have a tendency to get too sarcastic when I'm A) Mad B) Scared or C) Stressed. Either that or I start to cry. I know this is such a cheesy plot but it will all make sense in time. Maybe. God, I'll regret posting this for the public eye later on. Until then, you can read it and judge me. I see you, yeah you, judging the weird girl that spent like a week writing this. And spent the other time that you were -or maybe not- forced to wait just reading! I need another book suggestion please! Kerr-sigh! What song is this? I mean, I know but maybe you don't. **

**God knows what is hiding in those weak and drunken hearts **

**Guess he kissed the girls and made them cry **

**Those hard-faced queens of misadventure **

**God knows what is hiding in those weak and sunken lives **

**Fiery throngs of muted angels **

**Giving love but getting nothing back, oh **

**I would have posted more of it but then it reaches the chorus. That would take away the whole point of the game! Anyways, thanks for reading! The review button is somewhere and it only takes about a minute to type something in. The favorite and follow button are somewhere as well and only take a millisecond to click! Click, CLick, CLICK!**


	4. Pancakes and Canadians

**Can I just say I want to take a nap and did most of this in one night because I lost my muse but then gained it back after watching a cheeseburger evolve into its final form? Is that believable? The answer is, of course, YES! Or no. I don't know. But yeah, this chapter was made quickly and in a stupor of sneezing every five seconds. I worked hard on it though!**

**Fantabulous Disclaimer of Pie**

**Me: IGGY! I missed you!**

**Iggy: I was right here the whole time you idiot.**

**Me: That's not nice.**

**Iggy: It's a cruel world.**

**Me: Just do the disclaimer before I set you in fire.**

**Iggy: The special little ginger over there doesn't own Maximum Ride, Marvel, Canada, Nirvana or Pearl Jam.**

**Me: *Sob* It's true!**

* * *

Max POV

I woke up to the annoying sound of insistent pounding on my door. Not as in light 'do-you-wanna-build-a-snowman' knock, but actual 'holy-shit-the-incredible-Hulk-is-trying-to-get-me!' sort if knocking. Well, maybe a bit lighter, but Ella is a fifteen year old girl who seemed to be able to turn into the Hulk. I had been through it, so I knew quite a bit about the whole ordeal. Of course, you also had to take into account she had her first period last week and had actually texted me repeatedly about the pain. I had to convince her that I did not 'need the pain pictures'.

"MAXIMUM LUCIA MARTINEZ-BATCHLEDER! IF YOU DO NOT GET UP RIGHT NOW AND SHUT OFF THAT DAMN NIRVANA ALARM SONG I WILL COME IN THERE AND MURDER YOU WITH MY TOOTHBRUSH!" Ella screamed at me through the door. To say the least, she wasn't a morning person. You know how everyone has their own personalities? Well it's true with morning properties as well. For example, in the morning Ella became She-Hulk on her period and I became someone who couldn't keep their eyes open for three second before droning off to sleep again.

"Ella…*yawn*…I'll have you…*yawn*…know…*yawn*…this B-E-A-*yawn*UTIFUL song is…*yawn*…Pearl Jam, not…*yawn*…Nirvana." I mumbled through my tired state, lifting my head for a moment before flopping it back down onto my pillow and returning to my sleep.

"I COULD CARE LESS IF IT WERE BEASTIE BOYS SINGING ABOUT…WHATEVER! THE POINT IS, IT'S TIME FOR SCHOOL AND YOUR COMING!" She yelled through the door at me. Ahh yes…school. The usual bane of my existence. Just because I'm smart doesn't mean that I have to like getting up at six A.M. and having five hours of homework. Plus, the only people I even slightly knew at this school were the Ride's -who I personally hated at the moment- and Ella.

"School schmool. I have an arranged date with my *yawn* bed and I don't plan to miss it." I answered my sister. My mumbling was such a drastic volume change from her intense screaming, it almost scared me. It was usually me screaming at nothing and everything -I'm not allowed to watch hockey in public anymore- and her being shy and humble, but still having a steady tone if voice.

"MAXIM-…" Ella started before quickly stopping. I could almost hear the devious smile spreading over her face. "You know, if you don't come out and get ready, I may come in. With my makeup. And a new test subject."

I was up within the next two seconds. While Ella was a slight tomboy -I'm not saying she doesn't squeal over random dude's abs though- she would never miss out on an opportunity to torture her older sister. Which, unluckily, happened to be me. Sure, she was good at makeup and outfits and that stuff girls are supposed to be good at, and I was all for it -kind of- but when she came charging at my with a blush brush like she's going into war, I'm running and you better hope you can keep up.

"I'll count to three. One…two…" Ella began, counting as fast as she could but still trying to make it seem like I could rescue myself.

"I'm up! I'm up! No need to take out the numbers this early in the morning!" I said, somehow managing to sit up in my bed, my legs swinging loosely over the edge, toes just skimming the carpeted ground. I heard Ella sigh before marching off -most likely to pamper herself. Turning off my alarm, I stuck my feet hastily into my slippers and threw on a jacket I had lying next to my bed.

While I did sleep fully dressed, the whole PJ pants and tank top shebang, I did have some modesty, which usually led me to always have a jacket on. My bottom half could be totally naked, but it wouldn't bother me as long as I had a jacket on. Was that odd?

Sighing, I bid my warm bed a goodbye, swearing I would return to it later, and stood up. I began swaying slightly but quickly got my balance as I groped blindly with my hand and grasped onto a chair. Keeping my eyes shut tightly, I stumbled across my room and to my door before opening it and somehow making it out into the hallway.

Eventually I reached the stairs and from there on kept one eye half open as I clomped down the stairs. I had enough talent that I could even clomp around in slippers my friend and I had bought at comic-con. Given they had ducklings on them, though, it seemed to make the feat even bigger.

As I reached the bottom of the stairs I was met with the smell of chocolate chip pancakes, my stomach rumbled greedily just at the thought of devouring them while they were soaked in maple syrup. And not that crappy fake American kind, real Canadian maple syrup. It is the definition of liquid heaven and you can not deny it.

What made eating these pancakes even more desirable was the fact that I knew my mother was feeding me these to try to butter me up for what had happened last night. Oh yeah, last night. I almost forgot about that and now it was all coming back to me. I frowned slightly at the thought but then smiled deviously. Even with all of this buttering up, I wouldn't forgive my parents. I mean, they could have at least discussed this with me. Like 'hey, Max! By the way your getting married to some dude you don't know because you're nothing more than a business proposal we can throw away like paper in a wastebin!' Well, that seems to be about the same, but they could have at least warned me about it!

"Morning Max!" My mother cheered at me. I simply grunted at her, immediately going back into zombie-Max mode.

Flomping down in my seat at the table I peeked through my eyelashes at the food laid out in front of me. Of course, it is all my favorite types. Chocolate chip pancakes along with a jug of maple syrup, a plate of bacon, donuts, and croissants all sat neatly in front of me. Fast metabolism was once my thought of a curse, I mean girls were supposed to be eating salads and going on diets. I was the girl in the corner who seemed too skinny as she ate a bison burger dripping in hot sauce. Now I was extremely happy for it though. I could eat all the food that I pleased and burn it off by walking to the public library.

Grabbing a plate, I piled up with food and ate it just as quickly as I gathered it. That's probably why people didn't often ask if I wanted to share some food. My friend had once made that mistake and I ended up eating every single morsel on her plate, even though her Russian cuisine made my stomach lurch from time to time.

"Okay bye." I grumbled after I had finished off my breakfast plate, I even bothered to lick up the syrup that covered most if the plate. My parents knew I wouldn't get over this for a while, and they -sort of- respected that. They let me handle it on my own, sometimes suckering up to me to make the process speed up.

Clomping back up the stairs and down the hall, I made a big show of slamming my door and clomping across my floor. What I did that for, I wasn't entirely sure of, it just felt right. You know what I mean, right? Maybe you don't though, I'm not you.

Now we get to the fun part, changing! Okay, it's not really that fun considering my usual outfit -jeans and either a long sleeve shirt or a sweatshirt over a t-shirt- were all major no-no's in the changing seasons of Great Falls. With the blistering cold winters here, you'd think the summers would still be cold. Sorry to disappoint you, but it's the opposite. We have freezing cold winters that make you wish for summer and summers so hot that they made you long for winter to come back.

So, being the beginning of summer and all, pants were out of the question. Sweatshirts however, were always needed for me. I would like to interject you train of thought and turn it around. No, I do not self harm, I had an okay life and didn't see the point of doing it when I was pretty content with how I am right now. I just love sweatshirts, they always made me feel so homey, like a hug or something. You get what I'm saying? Good, now don't let your train of thought turn around, that's for some other story.

I began to rummage through my small collection of shorts, most of them being either basketball shorts or running shorts that is still had to wash from gym back at school, and a few short shorts. Really, I never have come into a situation where I actually may have to wear short shorts. If I ever got invited somewhere, it was usually during the school year with my friends and so I never had to really worry about wearing shorts, pants being much more preferable for me. Why I even owned short shorts was a mystery to me as well. Still, it's either being heated to a crisp, wearing smelly gym shorts, or wearing shorts that make me feel -but not particularly look- like a slut.

Slut shorts it is, I guess. Grabbing the most decent pair there was, which still showed off more of my leg than I liked, I snagged a gray t-shirt and a sweatshirt my friend had got me for my birthday last year.

The most decent shorts were made out of something a little more comfortable than jeans, but less comfortable than sweatpants and were a sky blue color and made me feel extremely self conscious. Sure, running shorts were just about this short, if not a little longer, but I felt as if this was showing off my entire lower body. You know what I said about being totally naked underneath and being comfortable in just a sweatshirt earlier? Yeah, well, I lied. This was absolutely horrible.

Taking a deep, soothing breath I looked myself straight on in the mirror, the messy bird nest hair and small dark circles underneath my eyes stared back, a determined look on the mirror girl's face.

"You're awesome." She murmured to me just as I murmured to her. Hey, a little self encouragement was never bad, as long as the ego didn't get too big.

I then continued to get dressed. As mentioned, my t-shirt was just a plain gray and my sweatshirt was red with the white script 'I Wish I Was Canadian!' and had a maple leaf underneath it. This friend was Canadian and proud, often reminding me that he was and I wasn't. Hopefully not all Canadians are like this, just him.

Brushing my hair was an amazing feat as it is, considering that it looked like a rat had decided to make a summer vacation home in it. Once my hair was somehow subdued I braided it down my back and tied it up. I doubt it's absolutely necessary to go through all of my morning acts.

Once I put on my knee high socks along with my combat-hiking boots, I threw twenty bucks and two books along with a textbook of neurosurgery into an old book bag I had stole from my favorite uncle some twelve years ago and headed out of my room. Ella was standing there, tapping her toe impatiently.

"There you are! And I thought I took forever to get ready. Listen, the bus picks us up at 7:05. It is now officially," Ella took a moment to check her watch, "6:54. If we don't want to miss the bus we have to move, the bus driver is nice and all, but doesn't wait for anybody."

* * *

**That was short and quick and no point and a filler and Canadian. I know what's going to happen next chapter but I don't have the energy to write it right now and I don't want you to think I've died yet so I'm just gonna post this and hope you don't want to murder me too hard for it. Just kill me a little bit, okay? Not too much, because I still need to continue this fanfiction, now don't I? Do you know this song?**

**You didn't close the door**

**Left a crack open**

**I couldn't ignore the faint possibility **

**Of having hope in this insanity**

**That we still could be**

**But we're stuck floating in between**

**And then it hits the chorus, maybe I should choose songs that have longer 'building actions' so to speak. Also, Happy Easter! Or, as I went around screaming at everyone, GLAD PÅSK! So…reviews are appreciated and loved. Also, if it helps, I'll add just the smallest dash of Fax into either the next chapter or the one after that. Just a dash, it's not going to light some huge roaring Faxy fire. Read, review, goat cheese, the usual.**


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